How this industry gets paid — including us.
You can’t judge advice until you know who’s paying for it. So here is the entire economics of the study-abroad business, published where every student can see it.
How consultancies make money
When a consultancy places you at a university or college abroad, the institution pays them a commission — typically 10–30% of your first-year tuition. For an Australian university, that's roughly AUD 2,000–5,000 per student. This is the engine of the entire industry, and it's why "free counseling" exists: you are not the customer, you are the product being placed.
On top of commission, many also charge students directly: documentation or "processing" fees, IELTS/PTE/language class fees, and sometimes charges for services that are actually free (the NOC costs about Rs 2,000 at the Ministry — some students get billed many times that).
None of this is illegal, and much of it is honest work. The problem is what the structure does to advice: a counselor earns more sending you to a high-commission partner college than to the university that actually fits you — and earns nothing at all for telling you to wait a year. Now you know why everyone with an office in Putalisadak thinks you should leave immediately.
How we make money
Right now: we don’t. The assessment, the reports, the cost guides, and WhatsApp answers are free, and there’s nothing to buy.
Our plan — written here so you can hold us to it:
- Partner referrals, disclosed every time. When we introduce students to vetted, licensed partners (consultancies today; universities directly, later), we’ll earn a share of the standard commission — and we’ll tell you, in the same message, that we do.
- Never pay-to-rank. No country, university, or consultancy can pay to change your assessment result or their position in our guides. The scoring logic doesn’t know who pays us.
- Your data is not a product. Your details go to a partner only when you say yes, for that specific introduction. We do not sell lead lists. Ever.
- The truth stays free. Reports, cost data, and guides will never move behind a paywall or a phone-number gate.
Why publish this?
Because the alternative is what the industry does now: pretend the commission doesn’t exist and hope you never ask. We’d rather build a business that survives you knowing exactly how it works.
Think we've broken one of these promises? Say it publicly, or tell us directly on WhatsApp. This page is the standard we asked to be judged by.